J. Mark and Loni Perry had cause for celebration on New Year’s Day. “We prayed for him,” said Loni Perry of her newborn baby boy. It was just a bonus that baby Lucas Warren Perry was also the first born baby in Richland County.
Loni Perry said she hadn’t even given birth when she found out that baby Lucas would be the county’s first baby. Born at 1:44 p.m. at MedCentral Shelby Hospital, Lucas Warren Perry came into this world weighing eight pounds, three ounces and was 20.5 inches long.
“I was in the middle of pushing when one of the nurses got a call from the Mansfield hospital and they were asking her if they had any babies delivered there yet?,” Loni Perry said.
“We didn’t know what she was talking about. She was in the other room and was screaming and all excited. When she came back in she said, ‘I think this might be the first baby of the New Year!’”
Loni said everything surrounding the birth of her and Mark’s first child together has been exciting.
“It’s just so exciting because he was born on his due date, 1-1-14 and that he was born at 1:44 p.m.,” she said.
The Ontario residents said they chose to have their baby at the MedCentral Shelby hospital because of the personalized care they have received from obstetrician Dr. Omar Guimaraes and the nurses in the maternity ward.
“Shelby has some of the best nurses,” Loni Perry said. “Heather and Autumn were wonderful.”
The couple, who have two older children from Mark Perry’s previous marriage, Jasmine, 15 and Jimmy, 10, have been married for almost three years and had been trying to conceive for some time before they found out they were pregnant.
“It just didn’t seem real,” Loni Perry said of the realization that she was finally pregnant. “We had waited for so long. When you try for so long, you try not to get your hopes up. And then when it does happen, it just doesn’t seem real. I was really excited.
“I was ecstatic,” Mark Perry added. “I was announcing it to our waiter that night at dinner.”
Loni said she had a relatively good pregnancy with only having some morning sickness during the first trimester.
“I enjoyed being pregnant for the most part,” she said.
But on the last day of the year, it was no longer time for Loni to be pregnant. It was almost time to meet baby Lucas.
“My contractions starting becoming pretty regular around 10 p.m.,” she said.
After leaving a New Years Eve celebration at her father’s house after midnight, Loni Perry said she went home to get some rest but she said couldn’t rest. By 3 a.m., the couple headed to the hospital.
Lacey Rogers, Leah Meadows and Cathy Thompson, Loni’s two sisters and mother respectively, also helped her through the labor and delivery of their nephew and grandson. They all traveled from Marysville and Galloway, Ohio to be there for the Perrys.
The couple said they chose the name Lucas because it means light. Warren is Loni’s father’s middle name.
Loni and Mark Perry both agreed that baby Lucas has been the perfect baby so far.
“He’s such a good baby,” said Loni Perry. “He’s very calm and content.”
“It’s just so exciting because he was born on his due date, 1-1-14 and that he was born at 1:44 p.m.,” Loni Perry said.
